The present invention relates to an electrical connector for coaxial cable, and more particularly to electrical connectors for either or both of the conductors of coaxial cable. The connector may act as a termination, such as a plug or part of a union, for the coaxial cable so that the cable may be connected to a piece of equipment or to another cable having counterpart connectors terminating it.
In the art, the term "coaxial cable" signifies a cable comprising an inner conductor and an outer concentric conductor surrounding the inner conductor. An inner insulating member is interposed between the inner and outer conductors. The outer conductor may also be provided with an insulating member or sheath surrounding it so that both the inner and outer conductors are insulated from one another and from the exterior of the cable.
Various types of devices have been suggested in the prior art for terminating such coaxial cable. Many of these prior art coaxial cable terminating connectors have been comprised of a multitude of individual pieces which must be assembled onto the end of the coaxial cable and which have required special stripping operations for the cable and time-consuming shaping operations for the outer conductor. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,305 to Hogendobler discloses a terminal connector and method of attaching same to a coaxial cable in which a cylindrical plug member, an inner ferrule, and an outer ferrule are assembled onto the end of a coaxial cable and secured thereinplace via a single crimping operation. However, with such a terminal connector, a length of the coaxial cable must first be prepared by stripping the outer insulation, the shielding, and the dielectric sleeve to bare the inner conduction. The inner conductor is received in the plug member which in turn is inserted into the inner ferrule. The shielding or outer annular connector must be slightly flared so that during assembly the inner ferrule is inserted between the inner insulating member or dielectric and the shielding. The outer ferrule receives the inner ferrule with the cable shielding arranged between the inner and outer ferrules, and the outer ferrule is then crimped to secure the connector in place on the end of the cable. As can be appreciated, such an arrangement is both time-consuming and complex.
Other prior art connectors of a somewhat simplified nature have been suggested for the outer annular conductors in which an outer sleeve or ferrule is provided with a pair of spaced lances formed in the sidewall of the ferrules opposite one another so that when the ferrule is crimped to the coaxial cable, the lances will pierce the outer insulating sheath and pass between the strands of the outer annular conductor to provide for electrical contact therewith. Such a connector is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,824,528. Another similar arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,298 in which the outer insulating member is stripped to expose the braided annular shield and in which the terminal connector sleeve is provided with inwardly projecting lances which serve to lace the shield during assembly. With such connectors, overcrimping or undercrimping can cause problems. For example, overcrimping can inadvertently cause the lances to engage the inner conductor. On the other hand, insufficient crimping pressure may result in insufficient electrical contact being made.